A Dunedin beneficiary wants his absentee landlord to make his flat warmer because it is making him sick.
Invalid beneficiary Paul Nolly (55) said he paid $150 a week for a Haddon Pl flat with no insulation, no heating and a leaking roof.
Mr Nolly said a doctor prescribed him antibiotics to help fight a mild case of pneumonia.
At night, the gaps in the closed windows were big enough to let the wind move the curtains and he often heard rodents in the roof cavity.
The only heating in the flat - a small fan heater - was the most expensive method of heating, but he could not afford to buy anything more energy-efficient.
The absentee landlord lived in Auckland and used Harcourts Dunedin as a property manager.
When he asked Harcourts for improvements, such as draught-stoppers for the windows, or a piece of carpet to cover crumbled linoleum, or a toilet seat, he got the same response - ''we are getting on to it''.
He was getting tired of the empty promises.
''If you say you are going to do something, you do it.''
Before he signed a 12-month lease agreement in January, a Harcourts property manager told him the landlord had plans to improve the property.
He doubted the new housing rules announced by Housing Minister Nick Smith last week - including for rental properties to be insulated by July 2019 - would change anything for tenants with absentee landlords.
''It's never going to change because you are fighting with a property manager and the landlord at the same time and they are never on your side. They say what you want to hear but nothing gets done.''
Harcourts Dunedin referred questions to Harcourts chief executive Hayden Duncan.
Mr Duncan said he was not familiar with Mr Nolly's situation but he would get the property management head to investigate and seek a suitable resolution.
''There is a fine line between what we can and can't do, given our instructions have to come from a landlord, in relation to any capital expenditure.''
The Government announcement on insulation was ''good news'' because it gave property management companies the ability to get rental properties insulated.
''We can actually start to drive that a little bit harder without it being at the discretion of the landlord.''
He disagreed with Mr Nolly's statement about it being more difficult to get maintenance completed when dealing with a property management company, because property managers encouraged absentee landlords to invest in property improvements.
Mr Smith did not respond to an interview request yesterday.
